USD’s Legal Research Center provides training materials to supplement legal research instruction at all levels and help students advance their research skills.
These instructional videos and training materials are provided to educate and support 1L students in the development of legal research skills throughout their Legal Writing and Research course.
Videos for LWR Courses
Spring 2026 Videos
Fall 2025 Videos
- Jurisdiction and Sources of Law
- Introduction to the Research Plan
- Navigating Westlaw & Lexis
- Secondary Sources
- Researching Statutes
- Researching Cases
- Advanced Search
- Citators
- Working through the Research Plan
- Generative AI
LWR Training Materials & Handouts
2025-2026
Upper division research training materials are tailored to subject-specific seminar courses and offer guidance on research strategies as well as paper writing.
2025-2026
- AI and the Law (PDF)
- Animal Law (PDF)
- Biotechnology Law
- August 20, 2025 Session (PDF)
- October 8, 2025 Session (PDF)
- California Regulatory Law & the Public Interest
- Climate Change Law and Policy (PDF)
- Contract Drafting (PDF)
- Corrections & Sentencing (PDF)
- Health Law & Bioethics (PDF)
- International Arbitration (PDF)
- Tax Research
2024-2025
- Advanced Constitutional Law (PDF)
- Animal Law (PDF)
- Corporate Innovation & Legal Policy (PDF)
- Health Law & Policy (PDF)
- Health Law & Reproduction (PDF)
- International Energy (PDF)
- International Redress (PDF)
The LRC provides legal research instruction to students at the USD legal clinics. These trainings cover legal issues specific to each clinic’s area of law, and focus on the practical application of legal research skills.
2025-2026 Presentations
The LRC is here to support the work of student research assistants working with USD Law professors. These training videos address some of the most common tasks research assistants undertake.
Reference librarians provide training on cite-checking and comment writing for second year law review and journal members.
LRC Research Guides
The LRC prepares research guides (LibGuides) on a variety of subjects ranging from broad topics and areas of law to specific research tasks to help kick-start the research process.
Contact Us
For more information about research trainings offered by the LRC, please call the LRC at (619) 260-4612 or email at lrcrefer@sandiego.edu.